SOCIALRISK_MH

Psychiatric disorders are among the most frequent and disabling health problems in industrialized countries. While recent research suggests that genetic and biological factors play a role in predicting psychiatric disorder incidence and persistence, social determinants such as gender, socioeconomic position, immigration status, social networks and support, are important sources of risk or resilience. One of the most important predictors of mental health difficulties in children and youths, particularly severe and lasting problems, is parental psychopathology. Yet it appears that the transmission of psychiatric disorders from one generation to the next varies depending on concurrent social factors, such that the intergenerational transmission is strongest in case of deprivation or social isolation. To our knowledge, the role of different aspects of social determinants, at various stages of the lifecourse, with regard to mental health risk is not yet well understood. The aim of this project is to examine the role of social determinants with regard to trajectories of psychiatric disorders from childhood to adulthood, with a particular interest in the intersection between social determinants and early life risk factors. This type of research requires longitudinal data and we will base our analyses on three existing population-based epidemiological cohort studies in France: ELFE, EDEN and TEMPO. Using multiple statistical methods well-suited for the study of longitudinal data (and paying special attention to missing data), we will examine the role of social determinants (gender, socio-economic position, social networks and support, immigration status) in relation to maternal and paternal psychopathology and tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use in the perinatal and early childhood periods, as well as the intersection between social determinants and parental psychopathology and substance use in relation to offspring mental health in childhood and young adulthood. The project will be implemented by a research group composed of epidemiologists, practicing psychiatrists, and psychologists, who will combine their conceptual and methodological approaches. For instance, we will study dichotomous variables indicating an elevated and clinically-significant level of psychological disturbance as well as continuous measures of psychological symptoms and adjustment. This will offer the possibility to put to good use the multisectorial expertise of the research team, and to lead to results that none of the disciplines would have produced in isolation. From an academic standpoint, this research will help understand a) social determinants of parental psychopathology and substance use in periods of particular vulnerability for families and children, b) intersections between environmental and familial/biological factors that can predict psychological adjustment in contemporary children and youths. From a public health standpoint, the findings will help identify social determinants most relevant with regard to mental health risk or resilience at different stages of the lifecourse, which can be of use in designing prevention programs and monitoring population mental health.